The missing half of education

"What lies behind us, and what lies

before us are small matters

compared to what lies within us."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

One of the most important and essential thing missing in our education is the “education for the inner”. All the subjects, all the so called improved method of education, all the progressive and alternative modes of education – are concerned with only the outer.

We are brutally neglecting the inner side of human life. By “inner” I mean what lies inside us, our feelings, our thought process, our conditioning, our background, our opinions and beliefs, our unknown self. There is so much inside and all we talk about and teach in schools is about the outer.

No wonder man is so deprived of inner beauty which means missing out on feelings like affection, compassion, joy, a sense of individuality and a sense of vastness and mysteriousness. We are a race of half human beings and we are creating a race of one thirds because this focus on outer is increasing with every passing decade and the “inner” has slowly become a very esoteric, unreal and non-glamorous only good for superstitious mind -kind of word.

The truth without any religious, spiritual or esoteric references is that human being is a combination of both the inner and the outer. We are a meeting point of matter and non-matter. Our body is matter but our mind, thought, feelings are not. Our senses help us experience outside but all experiences are internal and part of the inner. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that man is both inner and outer.

Any education system that doesn’t give equal importance to both inner and outer is bound to remain incomplete and hence without fail, fail. A sane education system will acknowledge both facets of human life without demeaning or belittling the other. That would perhaps create a complete man, one who is not destructive but joyful, peaceful and loving.